doomsday_disco

Pine and clove are the first notes that leap out at me, followed by some sweet Dorian and a bit of basil. The Dorian is quick to assert itself, and it ends up being this swoon-worthy blend of Dorian-sweetened pine with a bit of clove. I could not stop sniffing my wrist. Dorian's vanilla is pretty prominent here, so this is much sweeter than the Dorian and pine combo in Go Hawks!, and I enjoy this more than that one (which had a lot of bergamot with the pine and not much of Dorian's vanilla). By the end of the day, it has a kind of vanilla musk and light, sweet cedar vibe to it, even though cedar isn't listed among the notes. I don't detect any scary vetiver or scorched cumin, and this isn't lavender-heavy, either (I thought there was some floofy lavender and vanilla action at one point, but it was fleeting). I adore this and will need a bottle or two in my collection.

The lilies and roses are the most prominent notes at first, backed by the maple leaves (which smell like dried maple leaves and haven't morphed to cologne or bell peppers -- yet) and some sweet green grass. It's really strong on the grass and florals (but especially the lilies and roses) on me throughout wear. I never got any lavender or Dorian, but perhaps that would change with more time to settle. It ended up being slightly wonky on me after a few hours, and I don't know if that's the way the rose and lily combined with the leaves or if it were something else causing it. But it was still pretty well-behaved on me compared to other blends featuring leaves. I'll let this rest some more and retest it before it goes away. I really want to get some lavender and Dorian from this, but the lily and rose are so loud on me.

White tea fougere (emphasis on the white tea) is the star here, backed by the lavender frankincense, white carnation, and a bit of hay. The hay increases in strength over time and adds a really nice warm sweetness to the blend, but the white tea fougere remains the most prominent aspect of this scent. I get some of the dry white sandalwood in the background, too, along with the frankincense (which seems to be lavender-free by the end of the day). I have to stick my nose to my arm to pick up any of the white carnation, but it is there -- just not as bold as the red variety. This one is sharper than Venustas (frankincense, sweet myrrh, bourbon vanilla, and a hint of willowy, pale fougere) which features some of the same notes, and that's due to the strong white tea in this blend, but it does settle into a nice fougere mixed with some hay and resins. I don't think I need more of this (I think I like more sweetness with my fougere, and that's probably why the sweet hay is my favorite part of this scent), but it's definitely worth a try if you like fougere!

This starts off with the white musk-doused lavender and mugwort being the dominant notes. The dragon's blood and clove don't take long to join in, but they are much softer than they usually are -- I think the white musk is helping to tame them. It stays a white musk, lavender, and mugwort blend tinged with dragon's blood and mugwort for most of the wear, but by the end of the day, it has morphed into an incense-y dragon's blood and musk backed by the herbal notes. Dragon's blood is a tricky note for me, but it's pretty subdued here, so it's still worth a try if the other notes are up your alley! I'm not sure this is one I need a bottle of, but I think I'll hold onto my decant and see if I reach for it. ETA: I ended up grabbing a bottle. Retesting this after it has aged for a few months, it seems stronger on the lavender, white musk, and mugwort combo that I love, with the dragon's blood and clove being very well-behaved and infusing some warmth into the cooler notes. I plan on using it as a sleep scent to help ration the Hypnotize Me from a few years back.

This isn't as sharp as the notes make it seem. I mainly get the musk and white aldehydes with the tamest neroli (it typically hates me and is behaving more like bergamot here?) I've ever encountered and some artemisia (mugwort). The lavender is there, but it's not one of the main players on me. I don't think I need to upgrade my decant of Ring of Light to a bottle, but this was smoother than I expected it to be and absolutely evocative of its inspiration! ETA: Just wanted to add that the final drydown reminds me of La Joconde!

This is more about the sugared opium poppy than the lavender water to me, but mainly, it smells like a mainstream perfume in the way that Butterflies, Flowers, and Jewels Attending and Ava do. So if that's your thing, you'll definitely want to give this one a try. It's got that sparkling quality that Butterflies, Jewels, and Flowers Attending has even though they don't seem to share any notes, and it's a powerhouse -- I could smell this on my arm all day. I'm not sure I need another scent in this family, but I'll probably pick up a bottle for my mom, because I think she would love it.

At first, I get motor oil, lavender, and oak, which combine in a way that smells perfume-y and, like katharina mentioned, more like an expensive perfume than a dirtied up lavender scent. Over time, the dust and leather emerges (but it doesn't smell dusty, if that worries you) and they cozy up to the oak, which is somewhat sharp and probably at least partially contributing to that expensive perfume quality. But it is hard to pick out the notes in this one after the wet phase of the scent. This does not smell like Virgos Love Power Tools, in case anyone has tried that and was curious about this because they share some similar notes. That one went sharp on me due to the rusty screws, but this one's sharpness isn't due to a metallic note. If you're waffling between this one and It's All So Damn Beautiful, I will say that the motor oil and petroleum (respectively) seem to be strongest during the wet phase of both scents, so it depends on what you want to end up with. If you want something that's sweeter and almost cola-like with your industrial note that is accompanied by plenty of moss, go for It's All So Damn Beautiful. If you want your industrial note to mingle with notes that might make someone think you got this at a perfume counter, try this one. I'll retest this one before it goes down, but it may be too sharp for me.

Ooh, this is just lovely. It's not as salty as Lavender, Sea Salt, and Rain, but it has some of the qualities of that scent with the softer qualities of Waiting 2016. It's ocean spray and sea salt tinged with lavender and softened by the musky ambergris. It's more of a rain scent than an oceanic scent by the end of the day... like there's a gentle rain near the ocean, or you've caught the scent of sea salt on a breeze during the rain. I find the way the ambergris mingles with what's probably the ocean spray (it smells like a rain note to me) very comforting. Aquatics don't really work on me, but I adore Waiting 2016, and I appreciate Lavender, Sea Salt, and Rain once the blast of salt calms down. If you enjoy either of those scents and are looking for something else in that category, or if you happened to miss those and wish you hadn't, you should definitely try this one! I love this, and I think I'll need at least two bottles.

Wasteland World goes on as leathery motor oil and smoky, BBQ-like cedar. Behind the smokiness, I also get lots of gasoline. It's mostly the leather, gasoline, and motor oil in the throw, but there's lots of smokiness up close. This type of smokiness is a bit much for me, and it made me think that I was fortunate to dodge a rare bullet. But then. But then. It morphs, and the smokiness largely subsides and reveals a lovely light, dusty, sweetened cedar that made me understand why Puddin said it reminds him of Tombstone. The much lighter leather and skin musk cozies up to it, so that it's a darker, more desert-y, less sweet relative to that scent. I love Tombstone, so I love the final morph of this. Thank you to the lovely BPALer who sent me some of this to try.

Snake Oil with blood orange, blood apple, lemon peel, plumeria, and red gardenia. Note: I bought two bottles of Coral Snake on eBay in 2013. One was a partial bottle that essentially smells of Snake Oil apple cider. I only have a few drops left. The other one smells drastically different, and I don't get much of a Snake Oil vibe from it at all. It's heavier on the plumeria and gardenia. In any case, this bottle is more like that aged partial that I purchased (though it's a lot lighter on the Snake Oil spices). In the bottle: When this arrived, it smelled of sun-warmed red apples in an orchard with the addition of Snake Oil spices and orange slices. The apple note smells so realistic. After settling for several hours, the blood orange ends up being the strongest note in the bottle. Wet: Oh hai, blood orange! The blood apple note is extremely realistic and similar to the apple note in one of my favorite atmosphere sprays, Apple Orchard. The apple and orange notes are the most prominent, followed by the tropical floral notes, but the spices from the Snake Oil seem to be gaining strength with time. I'm not getting very much lemon peel from this. Then, it morphs. This is sweet, juicy, and pretty, but not like the aged partial that I have which reminds me of Snake Oil apple cider. Dry: The floral notes are more prominent now, and they are very sweet, almost verging on bubblegum-y (but not on the same scale as lotus). Several hours later, the apple note returns, and the spices and vanilla have finally emerged. The floral notes are still present, but they aren't as intense as they had been. At this point, the scent is very light and stays rather close to the skin. Verdict: I had to order this to compare to the bottles that I have. The Snake Oil base isn't very prominent now, so I can't wait until this ages into the Coral Snake I know and love, because the aged Snake Oil with this blood apple note is going to be stunning.

In the bottle and when freshly applied, I smell a fake banana-like scent, which, looking back at reviews, it looks like I'm not the only one who experienced this. But that does change to a candy-like pear on me that becomes a little less candy-like over time and is backed by a light, but somewhat buttery, vanilla. I'm really glad that I got to try this one, but I'm not a huge fan of pear and know I wouldn't reach for it. The teapot on the label is too cute, though!

This one was not on my radar, as I do not really enjoy plum notes, but a friend sent me a partial to try as they said it was more floral than anything. And they were right. This is a strong, somewhat perfume-y elderberry flower with some plum hovering around the edges, making it a very purple scent. The plum has a realistic plum skin note to it that reminds me of the plums growing in a neighbor's yard when I was growing up. It gains strength over time, eventually becoming as strong as the floral component, but for most of the wear, it hovers in the background and allows the elderberry flower to shine. I don't think this is a scent I would reach for, as I probably wouldn't wear it on its own, and I'm not sure what I'd layer it with, but I am glad I got a chance to try it.

This is all gummy bears for most of the wear, although strangely enough, one of the gummy bears is banana flavored??? A bit of cake batter tries to appear during the wet phase but is quickly beaten back by the gummy bears. It takes over three hours for something other than the gummy bears to surface, and what emerges at that point in wear is the vanilla buttercream (emphasis on the butter, though). I'm going to let this one settle for at least a month before retesting, but I'm not sure it will be for me. I, too, was Team Wanting Most of the Other Notes and not so much gummy bear.

Yep, this one perfectly matches its name and scent description! So if you don't like lavender or ozone, you will not enjoy this. But if you do enjoy those notes, or have appreciated the Lab's previous lavender rain scents, you will probably like this one! This is all lavender and a crack of ozone. There's a coolness to the ozone, but there's no mint or eucalpytus or anything like that present here. It smells like lightning just cut across the sky as cool rain begins to fall. It is a booming scent, one that will be smelled across the room if you slather, but somehow the ozone in this is smoother than I've experienced in other scents and doesn't veer into soap territory (though it does smell clean). I love this and will need back-ups because this will get a ton of wear as a sleep scent. This is one of my favorite Liliths that I've tried from this year's collection (so far)!

I tried Pumpkin Latte, in hair gloss and perfume oil form, and that one did not work on me. It was very spice heavy and the espresso ended up being too bitter. But I took a gamble on this because I'm always wanting a pumpkin spice latte scent (even though I'm a pumpkin chai drinker). This does smell like a pumpkin spice latte, heavy on the pumpkin spice. It's one you got from your local coffee shop and isn't as sweet as the one at Starbucks (or even the one found in Miskatonic University's Pumpkin Patch!). I think it's the same pumpkin spice found in Pumpkin Spice Snake Oil, but the coffee in this is smoother than in Pumpkin Latte. The whip becomes more noticeable after a few hours of wear, but I wouldn't say it is a cream-heavy scent for those wary of cream notes. This is a lovely pumpkin spice latte scent, and I am happy I grabbed a bottle! Now I can only hope that Pumpkin Snake Latte will be similar to this one.

In the bottle, I get the cardamom, backed by the light bourbon vanilla and a bit of lavender. On me, the cardamom is the first note I get as well, backed by the lavender (which is a little more noticeable on me than it was in the bottle) and some light vanilla. But then it quickly becomes mostly cardamom with the sheer bourbon vanilla note for the longest time. For those that have tried Perfectly Normal Childhood, this is the cardamom from that scent, but it is accompanied by less sweetness as there is no cake batter or marshmallow in this scent and the bourbon vanilla isn't a foodie one. Later in the day, this becomes more bourbon vanilla tinged with cardamom. There's a bit of lavender in the background, but it is very subtle on me. I like cardamom, and I like the Lab's bourbon vanilla (and am glad it was present here as sometimes it doesn't show up on me!), so I think this is nice, but I was really hoping for more lavender from this one. It's still a keeper, but I hope the lavender will come out more after this has had more time to settle (I tested this after a day of rest).

In the bottle, I get creamy hazelnut and a smattering of lavender buds. On me, the hazelnut and coconut milk are the first notes to leap out, followed by a bit of lavender. The hazelnut makes this rather rich, and it is the dominant note throughout wear, with the coconut milk right behind it. It doesn't smell like toffee, but the sweet nuttiness keeps making me associate this with it at times. After several hours, the white sandalwood pops up and helps tame some of the sweetness, but it is subtle and not too dry. The lavender and vanilla bean are also more noticeable by the end of the day, and I am thankful for that, because I wasn't sure if they were going to be buried by the hazelnut and coconut milk the whole time! It's not a lavender-heavy scent, though, for those who are afraid of lavender. Actually, I'd say this is more like a Lilith-y version of Ivory Vulva (Marshmallow root, coconut, macadamia milk, cream accord, and a drop of golden amber), but with hazelnut instead of macadamia. This is a nice, rich, warm, nutty gourmand scent with a bit of lavender, and I'm happy to have it in my collection. It's going to have to be a daytime blend for me, though. There's not enough lavender here to put me to sleep, and wearing this to bed would just make me hungry. ETA: Deathmatched this against Ivory Vulva, and I have to say that I enjoy Ivory Vulva more. I seemed to get even less lavender with age and more of the coconut milk with the hazelnut, so I put it up for swaps.

In the bottle and when first applied, I get petroleum-soaked oakmoss mingling with cola-like opoponax. Then the charred lavender joins in -- it's not too charred, more like an amped up version of the smoke in Fir Needle and Smoke, for those that are familiar with that duet. It's more smoke than lavender, though. After a while, the white amber emerges and adds a bit of a dry, perfume-y quality to the scent that I recognize from Pollution and 51. By the end of the day, my skin has decided to runaway with the oakmoss note, which is backed by a now stronger white amber. When my boyfriend sniffed this in the bottle yesterday, he thought he smelled leather. There's no leather here, but it does smell kind of leather-adjacent with the way some of the darker notes swirl together. This is not a lavender-heavy Lilith blend, so if everything sounds good to you here except for the lavender, this scent is worth a try. But you have to like moss, as it is prominent throughout. I really enjoyed the wet phase of this when it was like a dirty, mossy, petroleum-splashed cola. I began to enjoy it less when the smoke appeared, and I wish it hadn't become mostly oakmoss on me several hours later. But I tested this after only a day of rest, so I'm going to set it aside and see how this one ages. I suspect I may end up having to scent locket this one, though.

In the bottle, I get lavender, rose, ambery sandalwood, and some marshmallowy sweetness. On my skin, the ambery sandalwood and pink rosebuds are the first notes that appear, followed by the marshmallow and the lavender. When I saw the notes when this scent was released, I thought it could be in the same family as De Vos' Unicorn and Rose Quartz Bedroom, but with some resins thrown in. But it is more like Good Morning, London with pink rose and lavender marshmallow pillows. This makes me so happy, because I have been hoarding my last few drops of Good Morning, London and have been looking for more for years. Over time, it becomes less sweet and more about the amber and sandalwood, with the lavender and pink rose cozying up to the resins. If you loved Good Morning, London, and you like pink rose, you will love this. I have been kicking myself for only getting one bottle of Good Morning, London from the Lilith 2016 update, but I will not make that mistake with this scent. This is multiple-bottle worthy.

This one did not work on me at all. It remained a really strong, farm-y, oudh-y incense for many hours, and when that finally subsided, what was left was a ton of powdery orris. I so wish I had gotten to experience the cardamom, beeswax, and chamomile!

I tested this one last because it was the one that was most unappealing in the decant. And alas, that proved to be the case on the skin as well. At first, I get a blast of, like... industrial citrus. I think it is backed by some clove-y blood? And then, AND THEN!? I smell like I fell into a vat of cumin, which coupled with the acidity, is godawful and a little vomit-y. I stuck it out, and the end result is cumin backed by some sort of metal note. So... evil taco? This... I would not put on my skin again.

Whiskey, paint, and a latex-like neon note are the first notes that leap out at me. Then the beeswax emerges after a few minutes. It adds a welcome sweetness while also helping to smooth over the sharper notes. But the latex-y neon note reasserts itself. So there is some tug of war between the sharper, weirder notes and the sweet beeswax. But by the end of the day, I get some carpet with a splash of whiskey and candlewax. It smells warm, sweet, and a little dusty. Of the weirder American Gods scents, this one is more wearable thanks to the beeswax helping to tame the harsher scent notes. It's not something I need more of, but I do think it is an interesting scent experience (and I'd wear this over God's Own Country any day).

This starts off as a somewhat syrupy combo of tonka bean and saffron (with the saffron being the dominant note throughout wear on me). Over time, it becomes drier and a bit woodsy... I swear I get a touch of cedar in this after a few hours of wear? Because that bit of woodiness in the background is reminding me of The Small Brown Cat, but much softer. I like this and will be keeping my decant, but I don't think I need a bottle.

Whoa, the oil in this decant is so dark that it looks black until you roll it. And my arm is an orange-y yellow where the oil was applied. Pandemonium smells like a musky resin blend infused with some ginger and herbs. The musks reign throughout, and the herbs gain strength over time, and I also get a bit of an ash-like note? There's a phase when I think the ginger goes a little sour, and then it is beaten back by the resins, and then the red musk, which becomes the main player and starts to stomp all over the other notes. It's fitting for the artwork, though! This one is for those who appreciate darker red musk blends.

Apologies to anyone who saw this and thought a new lunacy dropped called Zombie Moon. This was one of those scents that Puddin' released on Etsy with a choose-your-own-medium a few years back. I used to have this as an atmo, and I used about half of that and swapped it away because it was on that person's wishlist and I wasn't super attached to it. But lately, I've been really into cherry scents, so when I saw this pop up in a sales post recently, I had to snatch it up! Zombie Moon perfume oil smells just like the atmo at first, which is to say that it smells like cherry candy (like a cherry lifesaver lollipop with a swirl). But over time, I notice the presence of the French Vanilla SN, which must be part of the ice cream. I amp it so much that it ends up mostly being that French Vanilla SN with some candy-like cherry thrown in, and I'm not sure how well those things mesh together. I may have to try this one in a scent locket, but I bet the cherry sticks around more in the other mediums (I don't remember this saffron-y vanilla being prominent in the atmo).